BirdTrout
Wolf River, Wisconsin
21 mapped river miles, draining 113 square miles, in the Wolf basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 23.9 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is Wisconsin DNR's classification of the water itself.
50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands, breaking at 58, 64 and 70°F, that the app paints. Grey is water nobody has measured.
The nearest live reading
The nearest gauge is 23.9 miles away, at Red River At Morgan Road Near Morgan, Wi — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
Wisconsin DNR designates the Wolf Class II and manages it as wild supplemented, and has typed 71.9 miles of it as Cold — 58 per cent of its 123.5 NHD miles, and the only class any typed reach on it carries. There is no gauge in this water, so the classification is all there is; no temperature has been measured here. The channel runs 29.8 feet across at the median and is fourth order, draining 112.7 square miles over the 21.1 miles of axis this site maps. Public ground is scarce against that length: one block, the 2,605-acre Little Rice Wildlife Area, and only about half a mile of the river runs inside it. Mud Creek is the substantial tributary — twenty miles of its own — coming in at river mile 16.7, with Stockley Creek at 8.8 and Pedro, Walczak and Pollock Creeks in the last four miles.
Thermal classification
Wisconsin DNR's classification of this water, reach by reach. A class, not a temperature — no July mean, because none was measured here.
| Reach | Typed miles | Band | Wisconsin DNR type |
|---|---|---|---|
| RM 0.0–0.0 | 71.9 | cold | — |
Wisconsin DNR has classified 71.9 of the 124 miles NHD carries for this stream — 58% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold. The untyped reaches are not warm water — they are water Wisconsin DNR's inventory does not reach, and the mile ranges above span only the reaches it does.
Questions about this river
- Wolf River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Wolf River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Wolf River — access, parking and public land
- Wolf River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Wolf River good for brown trout?
- Is the Wolf River good for rainbow trout?
Wisconsin DNR classification
Wisconsin DNR classifies this water as Class II. The management tier on those reaches is wild supplemented. This is a designation of the fishery, not the season and creel rules — those change yearly and live with the agency.
WDNR trout stream classification →
Public land on the river
1 unit of public or open-access land touches this river, 2,605 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Little Rice Wildlife Area | state natural-resources agency | 2,605 |
Species
WDNR has stocked brown trout into this water 9 times between 2015 and 2023. That is a stocking record rather than a survey — it says the fish were put in, not that a survey has found them since.
WDNR has stocked rainbow trout into this water 10 times between 2015 and 2024. That is a stocking record rather than a survey — it says the fish were put in, not that a survey has found them since.
Hatches on this water
42 insects are recorded from northern Wisconsin, which is the region this river sits in. That is a claim about the region and not a survey of this stream: nobody has recorded which of them has been caught here. Open the river in the app and the hatch panel will narrow it to the ones whose temperature window today's reading is inside.
| Insect | Peak | Water | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fish Eggs Other |
October–January and April | 33–60°F | #10–16 |
| Little Brown Stonefly Taeniopteryx / Strophopteryx spp. |
February–April | 38–50°F | #12–16 |
| Blue-Winged Olive Baetis spp. |
March–May and September–November | 38–58°F | #16–22 |
| Blackfly Simulium spp. |
April–June | 40–65°F | #18–22 |
| Cranefly Tipula spp. |
April–June and September–October | 40–65°F | #6–10 |
| Grannom Brachycentrus spp. |
April–May | 48–58°F | #14–16 |
| Green Rock Worm / Green Weenie Rhyacophila spp. |
April–June and September–October | 45–68°F | #10–14 |
| Hendrickson Ephemerella subvaria |
April–May | 45–58°F | #12–14 |
| Alderfly Sialis spp. |
May–June | 52–66°F | #10–14 |
| Caterpillar Lepidoptera larvae |
May–September | 55–75°F | #8–14 |
| Crayfish Orconectes spp. |
May–October | 55–78°F | #4–8 |
| Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly) Pteronarcys dorsata |
May–June | 50–62°F | #4–6 |
| Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. |
May–August | 48–64°F | #12–16 |
| Light Cahill Maccaffertium ithaca |
May–July | 55–68°F | #12–16 |
And 28 more — the year-round records, mostly: midges, scuds and sculpins, which are in the water every day and are therefore never the news.
Tributaries and watershed
5 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Mud Creek 20.2 mi · RM 16.7
- Pedro Creek 5.6 mi · RM 3.9
- Pollock Creek 4.3 mi · RM 2.0
- Walczak Creek 3.7 mi · RM 2.5
- Stockley Creek 3.6 mi · RM 8.8
Wolf River sits in HUC 8 04030202, the Wolf basin, and drains 113 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 125 NHD reaches carry the name for 123.5 miles in total — more than the 21.1 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.